Tire System

Tires are an important part of your ride. Your car isn't going to get you very far without tires that are safe and have been checked out by someone who knows what to look for. There is a lot more to tires than meet the eye, and you probably want to have an expert look at them. The bead is a loop of high-strength steel cable coated with rubber. It gives the tire the strength it needs to stay seated on the wheel rim and to handle the forces applied by tire mounting machines when the tires are installed on rims.The body is made up of several layers of different fabrics, called plies. The most common ply fabric is polyester cord. The cords in a radial tire run perpendicular to the tread. Some older tires used diagonal bias tires, tires in which the fabric ran at an angle to the tread. The plies are coated with rubber to help them bond with the other components and to seal in the air. A tire's strength is often described by the number of plies it has. Most car tires have two body plies. By comparison, large commercial jetliners often have tires with 30 or more plies. In steel-belted radial tires, belts made from steel are used to reinforce the area under the tread. These belts provide puncture resistance and help the tire stay flat so that it makes the best contact with the road. Some tires have cap plies, an extra layer or two of polyester fabric to help hold everything in place. These cap plies are not found on all tires; they are mostly used on tires with higher speed ratings to help all the components stay in place at high speeds. The sidewall provides lateral stability for the tire, protects the body plies and helps keep the air from escaping. It may contain additional components to help increase the lateral stability. The tread is made from of many different kinds of natural and synthetic rubbers. The tread and the sidewalls are extruded and cut to length. The tread is just smooth rubber at this point; it does not have the tread patterns that give the tire traction. Tires have a lot to them, and you may not be able to tell if they need to be replaced just by glancing at them. You want to make sure your tires are safe before you are moving at high speeds and have a blow out or a flat. Let us check them out for you.